Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historian To Speak at CSU, Chico, Oct. 28

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 10-20-2009

Kathleen McPartland
Public Affairs
530-898-4260
Robert Tinkler
Department of History
530-898-6054

Daniel Walker Howe, professor emeritus at Oxford University and UCLA, will deliver the ninth annual Joanna Dunlap Cowden Memorial Lecture at California State University, Chico on Wednesday, October 28. Professor Howe’s talk is based on his book, “What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848” (Oxford, 2008), which won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 2008.

Professor Howe’s lecture will examine the technological changes that revolutionized American life between 1815 and 1848 and helped transform the United States from what we would call a Third World country into a major power within 33 years.

A distinguished historian of the early American republic, Professor Howe is the author or editor of eight books and more than 30 scholarly articles, over a dozen encyclopedia articles, and about 50 book reviews. His specialties include religious and intellectual topics, including the moral and political culture of the Whig party.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 pm in Performing Arts Center Room 134 (Rowland-Taylor Recital Hall) on the CSU, Chico campus. A free public reception in Trinity Hall 100 follows immediately. Copies of “What Hath God Wrought” will be available for purchase at the lecture.

The Joanna Dunlap Cowden Memorial Lecture honors the memory of a longtime CSU, Chico faculty member and history department chair. A specialist in the antebellum and Civil War history of the United States, Professor Cowden was known for her dedication to advancing the life of the mind and for her high-quality teaching. Shortly before her death in 2001, her book, “Heaven Will Frown on Such as This: Six Democrats Who Opposed Lincoln’s War,” was published.

For more information, please contact Robert Tinkler, 530-898-6054 or e-mail him at rtinkler@csuchico.edu.